Bain agrees to sell stake in Japan's Jupiter Shop

The value of the most recent transaction was not disclosed, nor was any information offered as to how the business has grown over the past three years.

According to The Nikkei, the deal is worth more than JPY100 billion. It added that Sumitomo and KDDI each own half of J:COM but the former will sell a 5% stake in Jupiter Shop to the latter. Sumitomo will hold 70% of the business, directly and indirectly.

J:COM offers a combination of cable TV, Internet and related services. Jupiter Shop is Japan's leading 25-hour TV shopping channel, although Bain claims to have helped the company with its e-commerce penetration and expansion into tablet and mobile-based services. Work also went into marketing, pricing and margin improvement

The PE firm made its investment following years of discussions with Sumitomo about a range of businesses. "They had identified Jupiter Shop as a business they wanted to get off the balance sheet, but at the same time they wanted to grow it, particularly in the internet area. We showed them some work we'd done with retail and media companies in the US and they were impressed," David Gross-Loh, a managing director at Bain, told AVCJ earlier this year.

In a statement about the recently announced exit, Gross-Loh said Jupiter Shop had seen accelerated growth due to its strong products and programming, Sumitomo's capabilities in areas such as retail, and Bain's global expertise in retail.

The deal requires antitrust clearance and is expected to close in March 2016.

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• Topics
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